A video to accompany ‘Paris Summer‘, the exquisite single from Frances Ruffelle has been unveiled.
The track is a sumptuous duet with Rowan John. Sonically, there is a touch of murder ballad about it, the gritty, urgent slide of electric guitar together with drums and percussion drive the track whilst the vocals hazily hang in the air giving rise to the tension within the lyric.
The video sees Frances and Rowan set within the confines of a luxuriously decorated room – the tension and foreboding is tangible – it is a simple yet dramatic and captivating visual that matches the tone and style of the track perfectly. The video was directed by Simon Hanning and the set dressed by Seraoflondon.com.
Additional information regarding the forthcoming album ‘I Say Yeh-Yeh’ have been announced.
According to the press release, ‘I Say Yeh-Yeh’ was “recorded over 3 days, on old 60’s equipment in the windowless basement of a converted brothel in East London, and features songs that evoke Frances’ love of Paris. With a vision of the album she wanted to make – a joyful and nostalgic European road trip – Frances approached Gwyneth Herbert to produce the record. ‘I admired her quirky style and creative ability to come up with unpretentious and yet unusual ideas’ she says. Discovering a mutual love of music from the 60’s and 70’s, Frances and Gwyneth sat at the kitchen table, drinking wine and swapping ideas. The starting point was ‘Le Brasier’, a song originally written by Frances in English and later a big hit in French for Etienne Daho, which Frances challenged herself to record in French. The record includes Françoise Hardy’s ‘À Quoi Ça Sert?’, with new, English lyrics by Frances, and an arrangement of the 1965 Georgie Fame song ‘Yeh Yeh’ meshed with Brigitte Bardot’s ‘Ça Pourrait Changer’. There is also the stripped-down simplicity of ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’, while ‘Hymne A L’amour’ (sung in English) exposes heart-wrenching vocal power.
Fittingly, 30 years after the West End premiere of ‘Les Miserables’, The album opens with ‘L’Un Vers L’autre’, an original song that was written for Eponine, but never made the show. The record closes with ‘On My Own’, the song that launched Frances’ career – Gwyneth had a really strong feeling that Frances should revisit it, ‘She was initially reluctant but I wanted to allow Frankie to reinvent it, to reclaim it – to sing not as that innocent ingénue but as a woman. It’s a killer vocal, and with that brooding opening leading to the wall-of-sound chorus. And I think she’s forgiven me’.”
Here, on her newly updated website, Frances discusses her thoughts, ideas and inspirations connected with the song selection and recording process.
The album is available to pre-order from iTunes, there are also snippets of the eleven tracks available to sample. If you like your music to be physical, a CD version is available to pre-order from Amazon.
***Finally, to celebrate the release of the new record, Frances plays a five night residency at Crazy Coqs in London in October. The show will be an essential must see piece, tickets are available here.
